Unpopular Opinions

[Beananium]

Nods nods.

I should clarify I was critiquing Brazilian Miku and the amount of sexual artwork featuring her illustrates an often unspoken trend I see in several fandoms. The one where women in fiction who are, or heavily implied to be, from South America (or a fictional equivalent) being characterized as inherently more sexual then any other type of woman among fans of any given media. While I've seen these portrayals criticized over the years and is emblematic of more severe issues spanning centuries of a history of bastarizing entire cultures and playing into narrow minded fears to make colonization justifiable, tackling this subject in depth would be better done by someone with expertise and experience on this subject for a reason besides arguing about Miku on the internet.

I've also seen a lot of the past history of (very commonly white) people throwing a fit over a character wearing a sombrero before Mexicans go "Wait, we love this, what are you talking about?". In this context, empowerment is more about culture rather then sexuality.

That's reading too much into it, I say.

I like thinking deeper or looking into reasons why I or others may not like something and try my best to approach anything that makes me uncomfortable or I don't quite understand with nuance.

 

[Beananium]

I don't like the common older early fandom portrayals of Meiko and Kaito; particularly when Meiko constantly has Kaito on a controlling leash because she's the responsible one and Kaito is the stupid one, with this dislike being more severe in terms of shipping the two together and especially if they have the Kagamine's in a more adoptive role. Like... I do not see how that dynamic can have any romantic desire in it. It's still pretty common to this day in more comedic portrayals and it fails to get a laugh out of me at all now due to how overplayed and basic the whole bumbling father and bossy mother trope is :']

I think Meiko should be allowed to be a little silly and irresponsible too, and Kaito should be able to have his childish moments and still have agency and intelligence like the adult he's near-universally characterized as.

 

[Palamon]

My unpopular opinion:
Using AI for the MV or the instrumental isnt that bad

(Generative) Ai is stealing, period. And feeding off data without consent, raising ram prices, and guzzling a down of water/energy. And ai instrumentals don't even sound good.

So, I don't agree. And, that's all I'm going to say.

 

[PearlStarLight5]

And even if AI instrumentals did sound good, music isn't just about the lyrics.

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I don't like the common older early fandom portrayals of Meiko and Kaito; particularly when Meiko constantly has Kaito on a controlling leash because she's the responsible one and Kaito is the stupid one, with this dislike being more severe in terms of shipping the two together and especially if they have the Kagamine's in a more adoptive role. Like... I do not see how that dynamic can have any romantic desire in it. It's still pretty common to this day in more comedic portrayals and it fails to get a laugh out of me at all now due to how overplayed and basic the whole bumbling father and bossy mother trope is :']

I think Meiko should be allowed to be a little silly and irresponsible too, and Kaito should be able to have his childish moments and still have agency and intelligence like the adult he's near-universally characterized as.

Since Meiko is still characterised as the resident drunk, I always found my headcanon of Meiko being the bumbling, crazy mum and Kaito as the kind-hearted, yet down-to-earth and easily embarrassed dad to be far more amusing and subversive.

But on the whole, I don't see "stupid Kaito" portrayals as much compared to the V2 days, and it's the same with "pervert Kaito". I think the Western fandom in particular has really shifted on their views of Kaito since probably around the V3 era, when Kaito V3 came out. A long time ago, I talked about how the Kaito/Miku ship had really fallen out of popularity in the modern fandom, and someone pointed out to me that because Kaito's VP is much older now, fans today now see Kaito as much older than previously, which affected Kaito ships. I think something similar also happened with Kaito fan portrayals, because it's like the fandom quietly but collectively agreed at some point that Kaito must mature.

I find it interesting that the same thing hasn't really happened with Meiko as much, despite her VP also ageing. And nobody ages up Miku, Rin, Len and Luka to match their VPs because everyone likes to stick to their canon ages much of the time.

(Generative) Ai is stealing, period. And feeding off data without consent, raising ram prices, and guzzling a down of water/energy. And ai instrumentals don't even sound good.

So, I don't agree. And, that's all I'm going to say.

And even if AI instrumentals did sound good, music isn't just about the lyrics.

Have we already forgot about the CryDie/OKISO drama from a few months back?

 

[Heruru Meruru]

Here's mine then: I still love Bakaito and moeblob Kaito. That characterization is why I like him.

Also I prefer Kaito's V1 over his modern banks, the engine noise is part of his voice's charm and he sounds less froggy, for lack of better words. V1 Kaito can also sound vastly different depending on the producer whereas V3 Kaito always sounds the same.

 

[wrong_thyme]

to throw my hat in the ring:

• i like modern bakaito, where he's just a silly guy (/pos), but a lot of the early bakaito could come off as pretty meanspirited, and i don't like that
• 'abusive alcoholic for the laughs' meiko is trash tier characterisation
• v1 kaito is obviously superior to all other engines kaito

on another note, gakupo and luka often received similar characterizations in the gakuluka ships, and people seem to be reviving that but for gakugumi instead, and I Hate It™

 

[StrawbebbyPancakes]

I feel like the rise of people headcanoning Teto as chubby / fat is a prime example of how common fatphobia is in not only the Vocal Synth community, but in the English speaking fanbases for Japanese media in general.

100% agree with this. I'm a fat person and a big Vsynth/Japanese media fan, and I know the cast majority of characters won't look anything like me, I've accepted that.

But every damn time I see art of characters that's even just a little chubby it's either fetish art or making fun of it. And that's on top of the fact that these kinds of communities are gonna be casually fatphobic in general, so I'm never "safe."

I'm used to this at this point but man. It's such a blindspot for progressive communities (oh and don't get me started on ableism dear God)

...is this a safe space to say i think kei's art for the cv series is super ugly

i hate that muddy grey shading and weirdly solid, shiny hair sm

It's kinda wonky overall, but the only one that bothers me a whole lot is Luka. Especially anywhere her limbs overlap, it just feels amateurish.

Vsynth is the perfect term because it describes what these pieces of software are, but it doesn't describe them with a specific brand name.

I agree with every point you made, but there's one problem. When I go to conventions or events, even dedicated ones like Miku Expo or smaller local events, they will look at you like you spoke a whole other language if you say "vocal synth." Vocaloid is the word that everyone, new and old, already knows, and if you insist on not using it as an umbrella every convo with other fans requires you to explain what you mean. It impedes social interactions and makes you look like a stickler to others.

Speaking of which, IRL events in my vicinity tend to feel like stepping back in time, so many more people than you ever realize still live in the cryptonloids + gumi gakupo fandom era, it's genuinely fascinating. Gakupo especially, they're everywhere

 

[cafenurse]

Speaking of which, IRL events in my vicinity tend to feel like stepping back in time, so many more people than you ever realize still live in the cryptonloids + gumi gakupo fandom era, it's genuinely fascinating. Gakupo especially, they're everywhere

YES HAHA i started going to irl events last year and I noticed this. people go feral for gumi. I was given a staff choice medal for dressing up as gumi and the cosplay wasnt even good my wig was so botched. they just love the gums